Interviews, Misc, TV - Sunday, January 24, 2010 19:25 - 2 Comments

Emmy award winner Julie Walters as Mo Mowlam in Channel 4 drama “Mo” is a shockingly good story!

When I found out there was to be a short television film about Mo Molam I was confused. Why Mo Mowlam of all people? Then, to be informed Julie Walters was playing her my confusion grew more so. However, having the privilege of meeting actress the amazing actress she told Esper what really made her play the part of Mo Mowlam.

Julie, what made you want to play the role of Mo Molam so much?

“It’s really well written because someone really wanted to write about her. There’s nothing formulaic about it. She’s a really interesting woman, it’s very well written, and I knew her. I didn’t know her personally, but I knew who she was, what she sounded like and so on. All the other real people I have played in the past I didn’t know. It was a challenge, a huge challenge. We look nothing alike- she was a big, big woman, in every sense. She put a lot of weight on because she was ill, she was tall and it was a huge physical challenge to get inside who she was. It was fascinating, everyone has got a view on her, and everybody remembers her, even people who weren’t interested in politics.

At the centre of the whole story is Mo’s marriage to her husband, which is played by David Haig. They were very much in love, weren’t they?

Yeah, they were. They were shagging all the time! Her ‘non-wanker-banker” husband, she used to call him. David Haig is absolutely wonderful in the role, he’s such a good actor.

But this film is not just for those who have a passion for politics is it?

Oh god, definitely not! It’s a very human story. The politics is interesting, but it’s almost in the background, which everything was I guess. She was this tornado that went through life with everything else happening around her. It’s about who she was, it’s about her love for her husband, it’s about caring for people, it’s about dealing with the tumour, it’s about her courage. But it’s not sentimental, that’s why it’s special.

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